Pregnant Brit drug mule, Bella Culley will fly home to the UK today after being released from prison. The 19-year-old from Teeside who is reportedly due to give birth in December, has been cleared to board a direct flight.
She was expected to face jail time in Georgia after confessing to drug trafficking into the country earlier this year. According to The Sun, she and her mum, Lyanne Kennedy will fly back on an easyJet flight into Luton Airport at 7pm tonight.
Yesterday, she was finally allowed to walk free as new images show her barely recognisable, her baby bump visible under her jacket as she is flanked by family members. The teenager has already spent nearly half a year behind bars since her arrest at the international airport of Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi on May 10.
Yesterday, she told reporters she is “happy” to be freed. Her family forked out a hefty fine of 500,000 Georgian Lari (£138,000) as part of a plea agreement with Georgian prosecutors. It is alleged that the 19-year-old, from Teesside, tried to smuggle 12 kilograms (26.4lbs) of marijuana and two kilograms (4.4 lbs) of hashish into the country.
(Image: Daily Mirror)
Wearing a cream blazer, the teenager looked overwhelmed and tired as she was released from custody on Monday. Asked how she felt she said she was “happy” and told reporters that she did not expect to be freed.
Culley’s mother, Lyanne Kennedy, held her daughter’s hand as she was released. Georgian prosecutors were considering a two-year sentence, but “decided to consider the time she has already served”, Prosecutor Vakhtang Tsalughelashvili told The Associated Press (AP).
Lawyers representing the teenager have been locked in negotiations with judicial authorities in Georgia, with details expected to be released later.
Culley’s family has paid more than £137,000 as part of a plea deal aimed at reducing her sentence. She could have faced a penalty of up to 15 years, or life imprisonment.
(Image: AP)
Her lawyer, Malkhaz Salakaia, told AP that Culley would be given her passport and would be free to leave the country on Monday.
Bella’s solicitor had previously indicated that the amount of the fine would influence the duration of her sentence – with the potential for imprisonment being waived, depending on the sum paid. It’s understood that the court initially demanded 800,000 Georgian Lari (£220,000) for her release, reports the Mirror.
Bella was held at Georgia’s Rustavi Prison Number Five, with access to a hole in the ground for a toilet, one hour of fresh air each day and communal showers twice a week.
(Image: AP)
Lyanne told the BBC that during Culley’s stint in the prison she toasted bread over a candle flame and boiled pasta in a kettle. She was arrested after authorities discovered 11kg of cannabis and over 400g of hashish, a highly concentrated form of cannabis, in her luggage.
Bella claimsthat she was coerced into smuggling the drugs by gangsters who marked her with an iron, showed her a video of a man being beheaded, and threatened to decapitate her family if she didn’t comply.
During a previous hearing in July, she insisted: “I didn’t want to do this. I was forced by torture… All I wanted to do was to travel.”
Lyanne told the BBC the family is doing everything it can to get Bella home “where she should be”.
She said her daughter’s full story “will come in time”, adding: “Until then we are just a family doing everything we can for my daughter and grandson.”